The Mad King eBook

Barney hastened to a window overlooking the moat.
By leaning far out he could see the light from the
princess’s chamber shining upon the sill.
He wished that the light was not there, for the window
was in plain view of the guard on the lookout upon
the barbican.

Suddenly he caught the sound of voices from the chamber
beneath. For an instant he listened, and then,
catching a few words of the dialogue, he turned hurriedly
toward his companion.

“The rope, Joseph! And for God’s
sake be quick about it.”

V

THE ESCAPE

For half an hour the Princess von der Tann succeeded
admirably in immersing herself in the periodical,
to the exclusion of her unhappy thoughts and the depressing
influence of the austere countenance of the Blentz
Princess hanging upon the wall behind her.

But presently she became unaccountably nervous.
At the slightest sound from the palace-life on the
floor below she would start up with a tremor of excitement.
Once she heard footsteps in the corridor before her
door, but they passed on, and she thought she discerned
the click of a latch a short distance further on along
the passageway.

Again she attempted to gather up the thread of the
article she had been reading, but she was unsuccessful.
A stealthy scratching brought her round quickly, staring
in the direction of the great portrait. The girl
would have sworn that she had heard a noise within
her chamber. She shuddered at the thought that
it might have come from that painted thing upon the
wall.

What was the matter with her? Was she losing
all control of herself to be frightened like a little
child by ghostly noises?

She tried to return to her reading, but for the life
of her she could not keep her eyes off the silent,
painted woman who stared and stared and stared in
cold, threatening silence upon this ancient enemy
of her house.

Presently the girl’s eyes went wide in horror.
She could feel the scalp upon her head contract with
fright. Her terror-filled gaze was frozen upon
that awful figure that loomed so large and sinister
above her, for the thing had moved! She had seen
it with her own eyes. There could be no mistake—­no
hallucination of overwrought nerves about it.
The Blentz Princess was moving slowly toward her!

Like one in a trance the girl rose from her chair,
her eyes glued upon the awful apparition that seemed
creeping upon her. Slowly she withdrew toward
the opposite side of the chamber. As the painting
moved more quickly the truth flashed upon her—­it
was mounted on a door.

The crack of the door widened and beyond it the girl
saw dimly, eyes fastened upon her. With difficulty
she restrained a shriek. The portal swung wide
and a man in uniform stepped into the room.

It was Maenck.

Emma von der Tann gazed in unveiled abhorrence upon
the leering face of the governor of Blentz.